Eagle's Eye View
by They That Know
Summary: This is the tale of the life and times of Laurel Phae Souza, rambunctious kindergartner and philosophical extraordinaire. Based off of Byutifull, which you could look at as a prequel. Or this as a sequel. CxD, multi-fic.
1. The First Day

**Summary: This is the tale of the life and times of Laurel Phae Souza, rambunctious kindergartner and philosophical extraordinaire. Based off of _Byutifull_, which you could look at as a prequel. CxD, multi-fic.**

**A/N: And so, readers, we meet again. People decided they wanted to hear more about Lauri, and who am I to deny the public? You don't need to read **_**Byutifull **_**to read this fic, but it would be cool if you did: **http:/www.fanfiction.net/s/7849443/1/bByutifull_b** . In case you're wondering, that's the link. Any suggestions for chapters, I'm way open.**

**WARNING: This fic will have relatively short chapters and will be updated weekly on Wednesdays/ Fridays unless something comes up. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters you've already heard of. Except Laurel. And Consty. And Xavier. And Timmy.**

_**Alright, business over. Enjoy!**_

**Chapter One:**

**The First Day**

"Nooo! Mommy, I don't want to go!"

"Laurel, _you have to go_."

"No."

"Laurel, let go of my leg."

"Never!"

This was _not _how Laurel thought kindergarten was going to be. It wasn't like pre-k. Everybody was _screaming_. Why in the world would they just run around and scream and knock things over for no reason? She didn't see Consty or Xavier anywhere, but Timmy was calmly sitting in his seat sending her withering looks.

And they wouldn't let her bring Pinky. Where did they get off not letting her bring Pinky?

A lady that was not Ms. Muffy got down on her haunches to speak to Laurel. In hindsight, it actually never occurred to her that she would have a new teacher now that she had moved up a grade. Another reason not to like kindergarten.

"Don't worry, Laurel, you'll be just fine here in our class!" A lady with a pale face, frizzy off-blonde hair and blindingly blue eyes stared her in the face from behind a pair of round, mauve-colored glasses. This woman's voice was loud and her large, harsh nose was creeping Laurel out.

She reached out to grab Pinky's ear tighter but, alas, her hands were empty. She turned around and shoved her face into Mommy's conservative boot-cut dark wash jeans while she pulled her own embroidered denim jacket closer to her body. It wasn't cold in there but Timmy's expression was almost as frightening as Ms. Frazzled.

And just when she was cementing her resolution to get that boy over there that was gluing barbie heads together -shudder- to paste her to the underside of Mommy's calf muscle, Consty arrived.

"CONSTY!" She screamed, flying-tackling the poor girl as she walked through the door with a death grip on her father's hand and a facial expression mirroring Laurel's. Consty was relieved, she was afraid Laurel would be in a different class than her. She knew Xavier wasn't in this one. Not that she cared.

"Laurel!" Laurel's excitement was infectious. They hugged each other tightly and ran across the blue carpet to the right side of the room where the circular tables were. All thoughts of staying with Mommy were gone and they threw hurried goodbyes to their respective parents and then to the other parents as well. By this time class had settled down and the only seats left were at...

... Timmy's table.

"Laurel Souza."

"Here!"

"Grace Sterling?"

"Here!"

"Constance Sutton?"

"Present."

Ms. A. Johnson (that was the lady's name) was calling roll, and Laurel had to smother a laugh at Consty's response. Consty was so funny! When everybody else was really excited Consty was always so laid back. It was interesting that they were such good friends considering the fact that Laurel was one of the most high-energy children you would ever meet.

It turned out it wasn't so hard to sit with Timmy, all the girls had to do was turn their chairs in the complete opposite direction and talk loud enough about everything but him that he'd get the picture.

At the moment they were exiting the brightly colored classroom. The walls were covered in posters and games, toys, and books were strewn all about the floor.

After sitting on the carpet for circle name games and painting pictures of flowers and trees all morning, it was lunchtime.

And lunchtime at Choice Academy Child Care Center meant one thing- gossip.

Laurel and Consty walked into the cafeteria in single file with one hand on their mouths and the other behind their backs. They looked around in wonder at the large space, they hadn't been allowed to eat in the cafeteria when they were younger. Rows of dull, rectangular-shaped tables stood upon the fake marble flooring.

Laurel was looking down now, trying to step on all of the red squares painted on the floor while Consty was trying to figure out where she Laurel were going to sit. Xavier's class came before them and the dark-haired boy was waving frantically at them from his seat where he had purposely saved two seats for them.

Consty chose to ignore him, and almost got away with it until he accidentally fell out of his chair and drew the whole room's attention to himself. Of course everybody burst out in wild laughter and it took all of five minutes to get everybody back under control. When the dust settled Laurel finally had a clear view of the room as she and Consty took their trays to Xavier's seat at the back of the room.

Laurel discovered the cafeteria hierarchy.

The first two tables belonged to the girls who wore the most pink and glitter and whispered to each other about things nobody really cared about. Then there were the boys who yelled nonsense about scores and dirt and other strange boy-things. After that were the boys who dared each other to stuff glue up their noses and eat worms and the girls who snuck dolls into the school. Then there were the boys that colored inside the lines and the girls that colored outside the lines.

Not fitting into any of these strange groups, Laurel and Consty slid into the table with Xavier. They were the only boy and girls that sat together. They shared conversation about teachers and tv shows and other non-important things until Consty and Xavier found something to argue about. And then somebody slid into the empty seat at the end of the table next to Laurel and completely turned the trio upside down.

"Hi guys! My name's Diesel Hendricks! What's y'all's?" A boy with flaming red hair bounced exuberantly. His eyes were a piercing dark green and Laurel blurted out without thinking.

"You have pretty eyes just like my daddy!" It occurred to her that she probably shouldn't have said that, but it was true.

"Thanks! I think you're pretty, too!" He smiled a huge smile showing small pearly-white teeth.

The whole cafeteria froze. Xavier had a look of absolute horror on his face and Consty probably hadn't ever grinned so hard in her life. Laurel felt her cheeks heat up and she touched them, all of the sudden frightened for her health. Laurel didn't exactly know what it meant to 'blush'.

And the dam within Consty bursted.

"AHH HAHAHA! L-LAUREL! Y-YOUR FACE!" Consty was beside herself with laughter, she almost fell on the floor. At which point everybody started laughing. Laurel bit her lip so she wouldn't start crying and Diesel, embarrassed, put his head on the table. Xavier saw Laurel looking like she was about to start crying and elbowed Consty. Consty shoved him back and they ended up getting into an actual fight.

_I'm a big girl, I'm a big girl, I'm a big girl_, Laurel repeated and shut her eyes tightly. She barely noticed the teachers cart Consty and Xavier away. Lunchtime was finally over and she couldn't have been happier.

Now they were in the bathroom taking a break before naptime. Laurel, due to all the excitement, hadn't actually eaten much. She had cried a lot -quietly- and somehow her carefully pinned down ponytail had gotten loose. She saw herself in the mirror above the sink that was two feet off the ground. She looked a mess.

She was incredibly red-faced and she pulled at the slightly puffy skin under her eyes. She ran her hands over her head to try to push some of the fly-away hairs back from her face. She really wanted Mommy and Daddy right now. Diesel was nice but clearly a dunce.

Somehow Consty and Xavier both managed to get off with light warnings and the girl in question entered the bathroom, backpack in hand.

"Are you going home?" Laurel asked as Consty set the Dora-themed bag on the sink. Consty looked up at her incredulously as she rifled through the thing.

"No, I'm fixing my hair." She answered just as she pulled out a brush that she had gotten from one of her mother's bathroom drawers. She took her long, soft curly light-brown hair out of it's low ponytail and motioned for Laurel to hold the ponytail holder. In the scuffle with Xavier her hair had gotten mussed up and it was pain to deal with later.

She managed a sloppy pony with at least most of the more noticeable pieces of hair smoothed down. She looked at herself in the mirror, smoothing out her long orange jumper and rainbow tights. Righting a butterfly clip in her ponytail and re-velcroing her Mary Janes, she was good to go.

And then Laurel asked her an interesting question.

The idea had nagged at Laurel for a while but she hadn't actually thought that much about it up until now. Shrugging, Laurel decided to take the plunge.

"I'm still mad at you." Ok, so maybe she was beating around the bush just a little bit. Consty faced Laurel, looking into her blue eyes with dark brown ones.

"Laurel, I'm sorry. I meant to laugh, but I didn't mean to be mean." Well, at least she was blunt. Laurel nodded and they went back to looking at themselves. Ok, this time for real, Laurel.

"Why do you and Xavier fight so much?" Laurel asked her caramel-skinned friend. Just the thought of that gap-toothed idiot made Consty want to punch her tiny fists through a wall.

"'Cause he's stupid. I wish we didn't play with him."

"Well I like him! And you do, too." Laurel said, finally voicing her earlier suspicions. She had asked Mommy about the problem about a week ago and she said it was probably because they like-liked each other and didn't want to admit it. Consty made a face at her.

"Gross."

"You do!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"I. DON'T. LIKE. HIM."

"YES. YOU. DO." They glared at each other harshly for about five seconds until their collectively short attention spans caused them to lose interest.

"I have to pee."

"I'm going to go get in line."

And they went their separate ways. After relieving herself and washing her hands, Laurel left the bathroom only to have Diesel wave at her and call a, "Hi, El!" from across the hallway before the teacher shushed him. She did, however, sneak a "Hi, Diesel!" from the end of the line. Why she was talking to him she didn't know but this certainly was shaping up to be a pretty strange start.


	2. The Prisoner of Cooties

**A/N: Hello! And this shall be upload number two. These are all written in advance so, um, sorry for whatever I may or may not have done wrong. When I write Derek in this particular light he is OOC on purpose. Also, they're written in duos but not parts. So basically, there's kind of a theme. The one for the past two weeks would be 'Kindergarten Romance, Part 1', so it's not really that Chloe/Derek involved, but you'll definitely be seeing too much of them next week. **

**Also, I accidentally forgot the kid's name is actually Tommy, but we'll just call him Timmy. Somebody asked why Timmy and Laurel aren't friendly, it has to do with something that happened in _Byutifull, _he *SPOILER ALERT* called her ugly and was the unseen catalyst of the story*.**

**Another person asked why Diesel calls Laurel 'El', all shall be revealed, my friends.**

**Anyways, on with today's installment!**

**Chapter Two:**

**The Prisoner of Cooties**

"Ok, this is a game called _Cooties_. Its easy, if you're a boy, don't get put in jail. If you're a girl, put boys in jail. Ok, 1...2...3..."

This was all the Elaborate Samantha's doing. It was three months into the school year and Diesel was officially a part of their group, which had magically become one of the more popular friendship circles. Diesel, unlike every other boy in the class, had no problem admitting that he thought both Laurel and Consty were pretty but he liked Laurel more.

Laurel did not like Samantha Yong. She was smart and spoiled and mean, constantly picking on other kids. But at the same time everybody did whatever she told them to, as that was part of the 'spoiled' thing. She never had to fight for a position of leadership, she just ran everybody else over.

Now they were all about to engage themselves in this stupid game the big kids (3rd graders) at her old school made up when they were in Kindergarten. Basically, the girls chased the boys all around the playground with their lips puckered out -as if she'd ever dream of actually putting her mouth on one of them- and if one of the girls touched you you got sent to jail, a.k.a the area directly beneath the slide.

"GO!" Samantha yelled and suddenly everybody was running around screaming.

Laurel decided not to partake in the ridiculousness of the game as she was still not over the 5 hr-a-day loss of the beloved Pinky. She calmly walked over to the fence and watched from the hard autumn soil.

Even Consty was getting into the game and she never did stuff like this. At the moment, though, she was attempting to wrestle Xavier into 'Jail'.

The first one to go was Cortez Consuelos, taken by Trish North. He went down kicking and screaming but Trish, unexpectedly, had him in a headlock. Next was Boxer Henley by Ronnie Mitchell who ended up losing her glasses in the process.

Aidan Roth by Paige Wilkes, which was funny to watch because he put up a good fight considering his broken leg. Then there was Jason Vantress by kid genius, Laijah Allen. Casey Walker and Stevee Weisenberg, Jahmed Khufar and Blind Ronnie Mitchell, Jordin Hall and Fatim, the other Khufar. Bryan Henderson and Charlotte A., Liam Whitfield and Charlotte F., it never seemed to end.

And then there was Samantha Yong who basically told boys to put themselves in jail and they did so. Laurel was rolling her eyes at how pathetic that was. Consty, at this point, had come to sit on the wall to join her, seeing as her only purpose for playing was to make sure she was the girl to put Xavier away. And if it was up to her he'd be in pretend _prison_, not pretend jail.

Flanking her right side was Diesel Hendricks. Diesel, interestingly enough, was sometimes antagonized by Timmy for no clear reason. That's who he had to fight to get over there, the boy liked to knock him to the ground every chance he got. Escaping with nothing more than a few wood chips down his back, he planted himself next to Laurel with an inescapable grin on his face.

"Hi, Elle. Your hair looks pretty," he then leaned forward so he was looking at Consty, "and your hair's real pretty, too." Diesel remarked without missing a beat. Diesel was very sweet but he just happened to break a rule that stands for almost all ages. You do not compliment a girl and then add ',too'. Its simply not done.

Consty didn't care that much, though. She already knew he liked Laurel more than her. But, perhaps there are a few things to be explained about Diesel Hendricks, so we'll pause them on the gate for a moment.

A) This is California, but Diesel moved here in July from Augusta, Georgia. Hence the less than subtle southern accent.

B) During the commotion in the cafeteria all that time ago he heard Consty say her name but the only part he caught was 'el', so that is initially what he thought her name was. But now he's attached to 'Elle' so he just disregards Laurel every time shel bothers to correct him.

But coming back into the moment, Laurel decided to ask Diesel why he didn't want to play.

"Because you're not playing." He answered. She was very confused. Laurel did not understand why he was so excessively nice to her all the time. She wasn't excessively nice to him.

"But if I were playing I would take you." She logically pointed out.

"I know!" He grinned that same stupid grin that seemed to light his unnaturally red hair on fire. Laurel furrowed her eyebrows. Consty rolled her eyes at how obvious Diesel was being and how completely clueless Laurel was. Clearly the girl needed to get out more, or at least start watching more chick flicks.

Consty looked over to where the boys were all being directed to under Samantha's iron fist. She didn't see Xavier with them after all the trouble she had gone through to get him over there. She looked around angrily. Where could he be? If he thought he could bust out that easily he totally had another thing coming, because her Uncle Kenny had taught her a thing or two about prison and-

"Consty, _look!_" Laurel whispered loudly. Consty winced a little bit. When they were younger Laurel had a slight lisp and had difficulty saying Constance, and so she called her Consty instead and the name stuck. Laurel was the only person in the world that called her Consty and there was nobody else that could get away with it.

All of those thoughts vanished from her head when she looked over and saw Nasty Jamie Watkins kissing Xavier repeatedly in the grass by the other side of the swing set. The boy looked terrified as he was forced up against the metal gate that ran the perimeter of the area. That was Jamie Watkins, no sense of self.

And suddenly Consty was so angry that she could actually feel her own body temperature rising, even though she had no idea what body temperature was. That chick just got there last week and she thought she could harass Xavier when that was _clearly _her thing? Now, see this girl had just started something that Consty was about to finish.

"Laurel, take my jacket." She said, shucking off the tye-dye cloth jacket and throwing it at Laurel, who caught it smoothly with one hand. She stomped off to the area and had by now amassed a crowd on her heels. Jamie had stopped and now was standing up while Xavier was still recovering from shock.

"What are you doing?" Consty asked, giving her one of the most annoyed looks she could muster.

"Kissing him, duh. He's cute, right Xavier?" She asked looking back at him. His cheeks flamed and he yelled a spirited 'shut up' back at her. She just smiled.

"Well you better leave him alone or I _will_ fight you." Consty responded, leaning to the side with her hands on her hips.

"But Xavier doesn't like you so why are you mad?" Jamie asked with a feigned innocence. Those were fighting words.

"And he doesn't like you either." Consty deadpanned. That totally pissed Jamie off.

She slapped her.

And a hush fell.

Consty touched her face gently, pulled back her hand and looked at as if she expected to see it dripping blood. All of the sudden Laurel was very frightened. She hadn't seen her this way since... well, never. Everybody started to take a few steps back. Laurel and Diesel were in the front of the congregation but at this point both were a little too scared to attempt to pull either of the girls back and Xavier was nowhere to be found.

Consty suddenly sprang at her and they both went down, scratching and wrestling. And then Jamie made a wrong move. She pulled on Consty's hair. _Laurel _didn't even get to touch Consty's hair. Laurel saw it happen and looked down. It was going to take a lot to pull Consty off of Jamie now.

Consty was holding back but at this point she had lost control. She hit Jamie hard in the head and flipped her over on her stomach. Consty took a fistful of dirty blonde hair and yanked as hard as she could. Jamie started crying and grabbing at her head. Consty got in her face.

"You wanna pull on somebody's hair, ugly? Huh?" She whispered and Jamie started crying harder. Consty shoved her face in the dirt.

"Say sorry." She said calmly.

"No!" Jamie exclaimed weakly. If Consty had learned anything from the millions of mobster movies she'd seen, it was that people will do anything you want them to with the right amount of force and coercion. In response she pulled just a little bit harder and smacked her over the head to show that she had run out of patience.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Let me go!" At this point Consty was going to dig her face into the dirt and ask for a _real _apology, but that didn't happen because somebody began to pull her off of Jamie.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Consty screamed as Laurel managed to drag her away. She watched triumphantly as Diesel picked Jamie up while the girl snotted all over herself with noseblood on her pink t-shirt.

It was chaotic, to say the least. There kids running around screaming, crying, and laughing. As teachers decided to finally flank the area and Laurel began to insistantly asked Consty why she went ballistic on Jamie, Xavier watched the whole scene from the shady spot beneath the slide.

Xavier found this all very frightening. He kicked at woodchips as he stared hard at the spots of light where the developers had punched holes in the steps. He had no idea why all of this was happening to him. Why did Jamie kiss him and what made Constance beat her up? Why was Constance so mad at her? And, more importantly, why did he kind of like it?


	3. Pocahontas

**A/N: Ollo! The new theme is 'College Life' so, yes, the next few weeks shall be DerekxLaurel centric. I must warn you, however, I've gotten very few reviews lately so this story is taking a week break between now and Chapter 4. Unless I get no reviews, in which case that break may be a little longer. Alright, let's go!**

**Chapter Three**

**Pocahontas**

So there had been some slight issues with the plumbing at Choice Academy (probably having something to with those pre-K kids Laurel saw flushing leggos down the toilets), so school had been postponed until further notice. Which was fun for Laurel but not so fun for Mommy and Daddy. For the next few days, until Uncle Simmy and Aunty got back in town, Laurel was going to have to go to work with Daddy.

The arrangement was that Laurel would stay for Daddy's first class and then go stay with one of his colleagues that doesn't have any classes until the afternoon. Laurel had never actually been to Daddy's school before, and Berkeley campus was _huge_. Especially if you sometimes need help reaching the door knob.

There were people everywhere and the buildings were _so cool_. They actually kind of reminded Laurel of Daddy's paid sabbath-, sabbac-, sabbe-, well, Daddy's paid trip to Rome. It was way cool. Laurel held tightly onto Daddy's hand in order to avoid getting lost in the flow of things.

Everybody seemed so busy, like nobody even took time breathe. By the time they got into one of the sprawling establishments she was exhausted. Daddy had to carry her inside and she was too bored to notice the looks they were getting since Laurel wasn't actually allowed to be in the classroom during instructional time.

Whatever, at least she got to bring Pinky; that was more than she could say for her school in any case.

UC Berkeley was definitely even more awesome on the inside. People were still everywhere, but the architecture was brilliant. She marveled at all the windows and winding hallways. Daddy told her that, right now, they were in a place called Tolman Hall. Laurel didn't really care but she decided to just keep her mouth shut.

She closed her eyes and kept Pinky close at hand, thinking about what she would draw with her coloring box, which was inside Daddy's suitcase. Before she knew it they were in Daddy's classroom. There were rows and rows of strange looking desks and chairs with a cool really tall desk-thing like the one at Consty's church. There was a movie screen and a whiteboard and a-

"Laurel, do you understand that you must be very quiet or else we won't go to Bruster's today?" he asked her having pulled her up so that they were facing each other. She nodded emphatically. He sent her to a mysterious seat in the very back of the classroom as people would be arriving in a few minutes.

She contentedly hummed the song she learned from Senora Nunez while she drew a picture of Daddy's school.

All throughout class she steadily ignored people's cooing and whispered "Whose kid is that?" and "Is she Dr. Souza's? But she's so cute!". Interestingly enough, nobody came near her. She didn't know why, usually people would walk up to her and say hi or buy her something. She was mildly suspicious that i had to do with Daddy but the thought just kind of floated away.

No matter, she and her corner were having a darn good time, anyways. This all changed a few minutes later, however.

"Whatcha singin', honey?" A very strange sounding voice approached her. Her eyes rolled up to meet a lady with yellowish skin and brown eyes. She was pretty but Daddy told her not to to talk to or acknowledge (like she knew what that word meant) any strangers. Even if they were pretty, which made Laurel want to trust her anyways. But something inside her told her not to do anything rash just yet.

Laurel continued to hum.

"What if I told you your Dad said it's ok for you to talk to me?" The lady whispered since they were in the middle of class.

The lady had already been speaking to her for two minutes and had yet to introduce herself. That was rude.

"_Los pollitos dicen pio, pio, pio_

_Cuando tienen hombre_

_Cuando tienen frio_

_La gallina busca el maiz y el trigo_

_les da la comida y les presta abrigo"_

Laurel gasped. She knew Senora Nunez's song!

"You know Senora Nunez's song?" Laurel whispered excitedly. She knew lots of Spanish songs but nobody but her Kindergarten knew Senora Nunez's song!

"Los Pollitos Dicen? Yeah, my mom used to sing it to me." said Lady.

Laurel beamed up at her, all past grievances forgotten.

"Why don't we go watch a movie, Laurel?"

"Ok!" Laurel replied enthusiastically.

"_Just around the riverbend..." _

Laurel didn't know this movie but it looked pretty cool so far. There were half-naked people and talking trees, so it was cool.

Right now she was watching the movie from the lady's laptop. So fars she'd watched about three cartoons so far, specifically Anastasia (the one with John Cusack and Meg Ryan) and Princess and the Frog (the one with Anika Noni Rose).

The lady said that they were just going to keep watching movies until Laurel fell asleep or Daddy came to pick her up. Laurel was kind of bored but the movie made her laugh at some parts. Slightly annoyed at the fat guy with the pony-tail wearing way too much pink, she began playing on the iPod that her Mommy got her for Valentine's Day.

She was becoming completely absorbed in a game of Cut the Rope when she turned to look at the door. This room wasn't much different from Daddy's so she wasn't very concerned when Lady turned to 'step out for a minute'. There was knocking at it now, however. That was bothersome.

Laurel, of course, had absolutely no intention of opening the door. If the it was locked, Lady had a key.

"Laurel, open the door." A gruff voice came from the other side of the glass. Laurel hadn't actually bothered to look up. Her face lit up as she raced to the entrance.

She pulled roughly at the doorknob. Unfortunately, it would not budge. She kept pulling and found herself too small make any process. She hated being small! Why couldn't she be big like Daddy?

She looked up at Daddy with her arms crossed and the beginnings of a pout coming on.

Daddy, quite frankly, looked pissed.

"Why in the hell would she-"

"Souza!" Lady came rushing in, cutting Daddy off mid-growl.

"Pineda." Daddy said gruffly. Lady rushed to the door with a pair of keys and unlocked the door.

"I just locked her in there so she couldn't walk out and hurt herself." Laurel was listening but she didn't catch the unsaid explanation, _and so nobody would walk in and hurt her._

In the second the door opened Daddy had Laurel scooped up in one arm and she assumed the regular position. He effortlessly picked up her things and put them in her purple princess backpack.

"Laurel, you know you aren't supposed to play with that when nobody is watching you." He said.

She nodded her head.

"You shouldn't have made such a mess."

She nodded her head.

"Are you hungry?"

She nodded her head.

Daddy turned to walk out the door but briefly stopped to face Lady.

He offered her a gruff 'thanks' and she nodded in answer. They began walking to the car, the school being just as busy as before.

"Chick-Fil-A?" Every time Daddy asked Laurel where she wanted to eat she answered exactly the same.

"Yup!"

**So that wasn't exactly thrilling but I swear next week shall be better! Remember, review and suggest!**


	4. The Spy and the Professor

**A/N: Sorry about the crazed ranting last chapter, I need to seriously chill. I really, _really _didn't mean to post this a day late but yesterday was hectic and I didn't even get a chance to touch a computer. **

**And if Laurel seems too mature I'm really sorry guys. I've gotten kind of rusty since its been a few months since I've been around actual kindergarteners, but I'm going to try harder. **

**IMPORTANT: I have a poll up on my profile that decides what little person gets a prize from moi. Don't forget to vote! Remember, 'College Life'!**

**Chapter Four**

**The Spy and The Professor**

Today Laurel was in the college library, which was only good for two things. Flipping through relatively thin books, and...

...annoying the heck out of everybody trying to study.

Laurel was there with Amy, one of Daddy's students and past relations. Amy and Laurel were facing each other over a table in the Kids' Section of the library, Amy on her laptop working on an essay for a physics course and Laurel balancing on both of her elbows flipping through D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths.

Amy was listening to a dissertation online using hot pink earbuds with her dark brown hair piled on her head in a topknot, donning Abercrombie sweats and a mildly tired expression. Laurel, whose feet did not touch the ground, swung her legs back and forth as she stared at the pictures.

"_In olden times, when men still worshipped ugly idols, there lived in the land of Greece a folk of shepherds and herdsmen who cherished light and beauty..."_

It was at that point -the end of the first sentence- when Laurel decided to give up on actually reading it. She dreamily traced the starry face of Uranus as he gazed lovingly at Gaea's earthy one. She had never really wanted to be a princess as much as she had wanted a prince of her own.

However, she was now losing interest in her flipping and looked up at Amy, who was seeming to become less and less aware of her. Laurel shut her eyes and tried to remember what her Daddy told her when she asked if she could explore the huge library. He probably said no and some other words, too. Unfortunately, she had a terrible memory and sometimes, when you really want something, you can trick yourself into doing what you know you're going to regret later.

Like when Daddy asked Amy to watch his kid, he was going to regret that later.

"Rob, what are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying this could be it, that's what I'm saying! This discovery, this could be exactly what we needed! This could change everything!"

"Do you know what this means?"

"We did it."

"Are you guys serious?"

"Abso-freakin-lutely!"

And then all four guys in the room started jumping up and down and crying and hugging and all kinds of things she'd never seen grown men do before. Laurel, ninja she was, had snuck into a (supposedly locked) meeting room and started poking around. When she saw people approaching she dove under the table.

Their loudness was irritating her overly-sensitive ears. Rob and Julian were hugging, Eric had yet to stop saying 'Oh my God' over and over again, and Samir wasn't even speaking in English anymore. They were annoying her, and so she felt compelled to leave. Crawling out from her seat on the floor and dusting non-existent lint off of her bright green sundress, she moved towards the door.

"Oh my God, is that a little girl?" Julian's voice broke through the onslaught. Laurel turned around. Well it wasn't like she had been trying particularly hard to not be seen.

The room paused and everybody started to blink at her as she tried to remember which way she had gone to get to Dork Enterprises. She couldn't remember, and it dawned on her that she was alone with these guys that she did not know. Rob began to approach her as everyone else continued to stare dumbly.

"What's your name, sweetheart?"

"I don't have one." She got that from Consty.

"Ok, why are you in here?"

She simply blinked at them. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

"How much did you hear?"

What did he mean how much did you hear? She was five!

Rob turned and faced Julian. Eric nodded. Rob turned back to face her. He picked her up (she tried fighting until she realized that he was holding her way too far up from the ground) and placed her in the chair at the head of the table.

"I'm going to come right out and ask you, are you a spy?"

Laurel gave him a withering look.

"Are you?"

"Yeah." Well, she was a ninja. The way she saw it, ninja and spy were the same thing.

He grunted, "I knew it. Who are you working for?"

"Huh?"

"**WHAT IN THE-**" curse word, "**ARE YOU-**" curse word, "**DOING?!**"

Laurel smiled. It looked like Amy had found her.

"Laurel?"

"Mmhmm?"

"What did you do today?"

Laurel grinned. Daddy asked her that question everyday and now she had a _really_ exciting answer.

"Me, Amy and..." Dog, she couldn't remember his name!

"And...?" Daddy asked patiently as they strolled towards Bruster's hand-in-hand.

"Me, Amy and what's-his-face played Ninja Spies today!" The look Daddy gave her was priceless as she smiled up at him.

"Ninja Spies?" Daddy asked her hesitantly, almost as if he was scared of the answer.

"Yeah! Only..." Laurel looked down, brows furrowed in concentration, "only, I don't think Amy liked it so much."

A gruff laugh, "Yeah, I didn't think Amy would."

They continued towards the red counter and extremely tempting menu selection. Laurel chatted animatedly with the lady behind it as Daddy held her up to tell them what she wanted.

"Ok, class!"

It was hours later and Laurel was hosting class at the long glass table in the Dining Room. Using Daddy's big whiteboard and tripod -which she's acquired with Daddy's assistance- and a step stool so that she could actually reach it, she laid down the finishing touches.

Marleigh, the panda, and Makenzie, bunny #1, had to be separated and Ryan, teddy bear #5 was a star student. Ms. Souza purposely ignored Alan, Ken #3, because he was in the corner for being rude to Laurel, Barbie #2, and Destinee, Barbie #14.

She shook her head at Barbie-Consty and Barbie-Xavier, who were inseparable as usual.

Laurel had gotten the idea after pestering Daddy while he was trying to work on his class' assignment. He said, "Don't you have your own class to teach?" and she realized that she should. She was good at teaching, Diesel asked for her help all the time.

So after agreeing to leave Daddy alone he helped her set her classroom up with the warning that if she broke something she would be in trouble.

She rounded up her already impressive collection of dolls and stuffed animals and realized that she had renamed most of them hundreds of times because she forgot their names.

So, doing something Ms. Muffy had done with them when she was in her class, she cut out squares of paper, hole punched them, and wrote different numbers on each one. She then issued out the number tags to her perspective class. She took out a sheet of paper and wrote a name next to each number. It was a genius idea, even if she didn't come up with it.

"Ok, guys! Today we're going to learn about flowers! Then we're going to add!"

And with that Laurel commenced to breaking down to her class how to draw the perfect flower, stopping occasionally to hush Makenzie and Mia, puppy #3.

Later, when they added she started with the basics, like 1+1 and 2+2 and then gradually got to the really hard ones, like 5+4 and 7+3.

It was getting late and Laurel needed to be in bed. Daddy walked to the dining room and gasped in horror at what he found.

There was some sort of atrocity taking up the entire right side of his white board and there were random scribblings in varied colors all over the place like 'Ms Souza', '7+3=73', and 'Names Ken 3 Bunny 1 Panda 1'.

Ms. Souza herself was lying on her arms on the table surrounded by her myriad of plastic and cotton stuffing. Daddy was finding himself disturbed by the hard, unblinking eyes that seemed to all be looking in his direction.

He crept by the eerily silent and brightly-colored figures as he picked Laurel up and hurriedly moved out of the room. They'd clean it up later when it wasn't so dark outside.


	5. House 2018

**A/N: Hey y'all! Ok, the theme is 'The Holiday Season', so you can guess what we'll be talking about for the next two weeks. **

*****IMPORTANT***: I want to take a second to say that I have been experiencing something lately that has made me seriously doubt my writing capabilities and I read EVERY review and I see every alert and they never fail to put a smile on my face. Thanks, guys. Your support has turned me into a very egotistical person.**

**Chapter Five**

**House 2018**

And so, the days flew by and we find ourselves on the brink of one of Laurel's favorite holidays.

Halloween.

It was Thursday, the 29th, and Laurel and Consty were at Consty's house after school flipping through costume magazines. Every other page they would find a costume that they absolutely _must have_ and then turn around and find yet another costume that they _must have_.

Consty, whose Mother owned a Cintas branch and whose father worked inside of the judicial system, lived in a very spick-and-span suburban neighborhood. Unlike Laurel, whose house was made up of cobblestone designs, Consty's Mommy had an urban flourish, and so hers was a winding brownstone building.

The only difference between the eccentric homes was that Consty's house did not have term papers and scripts lying in strange places.

Laurel had just found a candy cane dress to die for when they both froze at a specific noise. It was a strange cross between a shoe squeak and a hungry guinea pig. Consty got up and walked over to the thing making the noise.

"Eleanor, you're supposed to be asleep!" Consty said softly to the one-year old who looked up at her uncomprehending.

Eleanor Alice Sutton (who was lighter skinned than Consty and with curly, downy-soft russet hair and eyes of a bright peru) had found interest playing with her feet. Eleanor was wearing a light green onesie, and thought it strange that, while she could not see her toes, they were still there. Hiding from her.

"Silly baby, stop playing with your feet!" Consty said as she took Eleanor's hand -as Eleanor had by now learned how to walk- and strolled her over to the play pen. The large, green netted thing had soft toys, stuffed animals and empty milk bottles littered all over the place. Eleanor was just about to protest when a laughing baby sun popped up on the television. She stared, transfixed.

Eleanor continued in that state as Consty (with no small strain) lowered the child into the pen, Eleanor's stare never breaking from the television. Consty then stood back smugly with the tv remote in satisfaction at her own resourcefulness until she had to tear her own self away from the Teletubbie roll call.

She came and sat back down with Laurel on the soft black carpet. Laurel looked at her in awe.

"How'd you do that?" Laurel asked, mystified. Usually Eleanor would put up more of a fight if she was bored and had to go back in the playpen.

"I like the Teletubbies so she has to like them, too." Consty shrugged.

"O- Hey Consty, look! This one's got wings and one of those cool circle thingies above its head!"

"Hey y'all!"

"Hi Diesel," answered their small regular lunch group. Diesel took his normal seat beside Laurel in front of Consty. Unfortunately, at that point in time there was no logic in their brains telling them that if they -Consty and Xavier- didn't like each other, they probably should sit together. But they'd figure it out someday.

Anyways, it was Friday the 30th, and Halloween was the only thing on everybody's mind, their group not accepted.

Consty and Laurel were buzzing about their newly acquired costumes and Xavier and Diesel were all about the candy.

"Diesel?" Laurel asked. Diesel stopped in the middle of his conversation with Xavier to answer her.

"Uh huh?"

"We're going trick-or-treating where I live. Do you want to come?" Laurel decided to invite Diesel because she actually wanted him to come along and she didn't want him to feel the way she did when Trish didn't invite Laurel to her birthday party.

The three of them had always gone trick-or-treating in Laurel's neighborhood because a lot of the people that lived there were old and gave out full-sized chocolate bars. Plus they needed somebody else to come along, too in case Xavier decided to jump out of the bushes and scare Ms. Ford again.

"Yeah! But..." Diesel trailed off, frowning.

"What?" Consty, the impatient, asked.

"But my big brother Dewitt said he's going to a haunted house and I want to go with him."

"A haunted house?" Laurel asked, confused.

"Yeah, House... 213?"

"HOUSE 2018?!" Laurel and Consty exclaimed at the same time. Consty dropped her spaghetti halfway between her mouth and her plate, Laurel accidentally snagged her bracelet on the end of her ponytail, and Xavier almost lodged his finger in his brain while picking his nose.

"Yep!" Diesel beamed.

"That's the scariest scary house ever! Only the really big kids go there!" Consty almost screamed, trying to rationalize the situation.

"Yep!" Diesel answered, who's grin was getting wider by the second.

"And a LOT of bad stuff happened there!" Laurel said, already scared.

"Yep!"

"And its where Laurel lives!" Xavier grinned, having recovered from minor head trauma.

"Y- WHAT?! AWESOME!" Diesel exclaimed and him and Xavier hi-fived each other. This apparently meant that the both of them were going to hit up the horrific House 2018.

"Well I'm not going." Consty crossed her arms.

"I'm not going either." Laurel said, also crossing her arms. If they wanted her to go with them, they were going to have to drag her.

"Ugh! What are we here for?" Laurel groaned for the third time that night.

They'd been having a great time all evening, even when Xavier and Diesel -who was supposed to be on _her _side- teamed up and terrorized Ms. Ford, the Davenports, and Mr. Funderberk's chihuahua. Their haul was amazing and their costumes were awesome.

Consty was a candy cane princess (including red-striped white dress, gloves, and red ear muffs), Diesel was a mobster (with a pinstripe suit, clean white tie, slicked back red locks, and mischievous black cane), and Xavier was a G.I. Joe (complete with army fatigues, camouflage cap and solid black adidas).

Mommy, who hadn't been able to visit Laurel on Halloween because of a myriad of meetings, flew in a fairy costume for her. It was knee-length with short, puffy, hot pink sleeves and a hot pink skirt with golden highlights. The skirt was accentuated with deep purple ruffles and trim, and the dress itself had a purple bodice and a pink lace-up front. Along with the dress were lace up gloves and shoe covers with sparkly gold hair clips.

Consty's Mommy, Ms. Adria, had done their hair. For Halloween she gave them themed styles, so Consty had hers in spiky dual buns with bangs split on the scalp line and curled to the sides while Laurel had a double top knot hairstyle with the rest of her hair and bangs wavy and down.

Ms. Adria took hair very seriously.

But, back to the current situation, they were all walking down the street together as the sky was darkening. Somehow Diesel managed to talk them into following Dewitt and his friends, who were laughing and falling all over the place, into the dark house that resided on the end of the street.

Laurel swallowed. Even in the bright of the day that was the one house that always remained dark. She still remembered the day, about a year ago, when Lia's older sister told Laurel about all the psycho stuff that had happened there.

_**FLASHBACK**_

"_So do you guys want to hear a story?" the thirteen year-old girl asked them. It was Lia's 5th Birthday Sleepover Bash (formally) and Cori had been charged with watching them. Unfortunately, Courtney had to fill in while Cori went to go pop a zit or whatever her poor excuse was. _

_Naturally they all replied enthusiastically._

"_Have you guys heard the story of House 2018?"_

_They all shook their heads._

_She smiled evilly. Laurel unconsciously gripped Pinky in one hand and Consty's hand in the other. Consty used her free hand to pick her nails in boredom._

"_About 30 years ago, when they were just starting to build the subdivision, a family lived in that house. It was a mom, a dad, a sister, and a brother. They were the Capes', emphasis on the were,"_

_Everybody ignored the fact that she seemed to have conveniently forgotten she was speaking to a group of very small children with little understanding of words exceeding several letters._

"_Well, one day the daughter snapped and cut off her brother's head with a machete. She got scared and hid his head under her bed and left his body in the woods outside of their house. When her mother found her missing son's head under her daughter's bed the girl had to kill her mom, too. This time she cut her up into little pieces and fed them to the neighbor's dogs. _

"_So the dad was confused and scared and didn't know what to do. She cooked him dinner and her unsuspecting father was poisoned with a drug to knock him out. Then she set the house on fire, killing him. As she drove away, thinking she was making her escape, she died after a car accident after being in excruciating pain for three hours._

"_Now they say that those murders still happen over and over again. Except now, you can't hear the screams."_

_Now, had they been older they might've been able to point the many holes and flaws with her story but this was not the case. Jenna started screaming, Trish, Laijah and Ronnie were all crying, Lia peed on herself, and Alana threw up. Laurel found the story disturbing and did not want to stay in a house with Courtney anymore._

_Consty, who was also kind of scared now, took Laurel's hand. They both got up from the blanket, Laurel clutching Pinky tightly, and walked up to the now hysterical Mrs. Harmann. _

"_Me and Laurel want to go home." Consty stated in that way she has. Laurel just nodded her head in agreement._

_She dragged a manicured hand down her face, "It looks like you're all going home."_

_Ten minutes later Daddy was the first parent that showed up. He was so tall and so mad the whole house was quiet for a moment. Laurel ran up to him and tightly attached herself to his leg. He got down on his haunches to face Laurel._

"_Laurel, what happened?" Laurel didn't feel like talking. She began to cry. He stood back up and the heat of his anger was stifling. You could hear a pin drop in the room and Courtney, not surprisingly, was nowhere to be found. _

_He closed his eyes and began breathing deeply through his nose. When he opened his eyes it was like someone had set his glittery emerald eyes on fire._

_His jaw was set harshly and everything about his stance warned anybody watching that Mr. Souza was a ticking time bomb. "What. Happened."_

_That was the last slumber party Laurel ever went to._

_**FLASHBACK**_

Laurel shivered. She still slept with a night-light on after the incident and living four houses away (she lived at 2013) certainly didn't help matters. Diesel and Xavier were completely oblivious but Consty took her hand and flashed her a too-confident smile. She gave a weak smile back.

They had finally reached the dark looming house. There was a sign outside that said, in decrepit letters, "Caverly House".

Laurel didn't know what that meant but she began to feel as if something fishy was going on. She locked her grip on Consty's hand as they approached the looming building. But they all noticed something belatedly.

The door was boarded up.

Dewitt and of his friends managed to throw themselves into the rotting wood just enough times to burst through the door and loose a couple more brain cells as well. Everybody crossed over the threshold, the curious five year olds and the grossly oblivious 17 year olds. And someone else, too, but they don't know that yet.

The smell of mold, termites and anything you can imagine habitating a house left untouched for countless years. Really the neighborhood should have done something with the place years ago but it was so well obscured by wild growing plants that it was unnoticeable from a distance. Just your usual case of negligence and what not.

Their group strolled across the long, tattered foyer rug. Laurel traced the designs on its red carpeting with her foot, anything to distract from how absolutely terrified she was. Xavier and Diesel were beginning to feel the air of doom hanging over the place too, and their bright smiles seemed muted by the legions of dust mites.

Everyone decided to explore but decided to stick close to the big kids, even if they were doofuses. Steven, Dewitt and Ben decided to check out the piano room. Everybody in their group followed them, but Laurel didn't like it. She had the feeling something else was in there. She absolutely knew it, she felt like all the hairs on her neck were bristling.

The room was decorated with peeling blue striped wallpaper and flourishing white baseboards. The deep gray carpet was worn thin from age and rodents in certain spots. There was a large floor-to-ceiling window with splintered beams of moonlight shining through dust-encrusted panes.

Standing solitary in the center of the room was a solid black baby grand piano with a blanket of dust covering its once-sleek ivory keys. As everybody else marveled around Laurel kept her eye steady on the right corner. It was the only spot in the room that the moonlight did not touch at all.

There came a knock on the wall. All nervous chatter ceased.

Dewitt, the ringleader, decided to speak up.

"Y-yo! Is anyone here?" his voice crumbling. Very demanding.

Something like a low growl filled the now suffocating air of the room. It seemed as though every floorboard was alive and suddenly the rotting wood of the grand staircase didn't seem so inviting as it once had.

Xavier and Diesel were by now clinging to each other in fear and Consty's hand was shaking in her's uncontrollably.

But Laurel managed to raise an eyebrow.

Without warning, a tale, hulking pale man stood into the light. His hair was dark and his eyes seemed to be burnt colas in his face. His face was twisted into a grin dripping with malice. He opened his arms and stepped forward, his dead white hands appearing to suck in all traces of light.

Steven passed out. And everyone left him there.

Arms and legs flailed as everyone trippingly ran from the room screaming and crying. Dewitt tripped and slid on the carpet, Xavier peed on himself and Diesel didn't stop running until he was down the street crying hysterically. Consty was halfway out of the door when she stopped and realized something.

Laurel hadn't come with them.

Wasting no more time she sprinted back to the piano room, sure that the eveil man had dragged her best friend halfway to hell by then. What she saw when she entered the room was enough to blow her jaw from her face, literally.

Daddy watched Laurel curiously from his sleek black sedan. In reality every car he owned was black, strangely, but that was beside the point.

The very idea that he would let his only child walk around a moderately-sized non cul-de-sac neighborhood on the brink of sundown by herself was not only ridiculous but insulting. No, he was _always _watching Laurel, she just didn't know it most of the time. Probably because the child was disturbingly oblivious to everything.

He watched as she and three other children -two of whom he knew, but he was going to need to research that third one- followed a group of less-than-reliable looking male teenagers. Daddy wondered why in the world they would take a group of small children to this house in particular when it occurred to him that they might not even realize they were being following.

He shook his head and got out of the BMW as he watched the numbskulls use their bodies as battering rams to open the door, which he assumed was sealed for a reason. He silently followed them into the house and almost gasped out loud at what he saw.

The house, in his eyes, was not a beautiful aging relic but a realm where every object existed with no other purpose than to kill his daughter. It took every ounce of self control within him to keep from snatching Laurel up right then and scaring the hell out of everybody in the room.

He fell back and followed them as they poked around, glancing up nervously at the precariously dangling chandelier. Laurel had a death grip on the child Constance's hand. He winced. He'd been on the other side of that many times, he knew it was far from a pleasant feeling. Her little hands hurt!

He slid along the wall while no one was remotely paying attention to his direction and watched them silently. The shadows, as it turned out, could be a very comfortable place to be. They all looked around, admiring the eeriness of the room. He sat quietly until he saw Laurel step on a patch of flooring that was much too unreliable and groaned beneath her weight (which was saying something as the girl couldn't have weighed more than 40 pounds).

His arm twitched and there was a thunk noise along the wall. He could practically hear the room's collective breath at the unwarranted noise. Daddy raised an eyebrow as a boy with too many piercings began to speak.

"Y-yo, is anyone here?" The boy sounded a second away from defecating himself. Daddy wasn't going to do anything until he noticed something he wasn't sure if he liked. The small one he did not yet know with the questionable attire was staring at Laurel with a small smile on his face as her black hair shone under the slivers of light.

This action elicited a low growl from him that he honestly hadn't meant to let escape. This resulted in a chorus of scattered whimpers and snivelling not entirely from the children. Daddy sighed, he had had enough of this foolishness.

He stepped into the light seeing Laurel looking deathly pale. She looked at him and a smile grew on her face and he opened his arms for her to approach him.

Consty looked on in abject horror as Laurel was slumped over the shoulder of the brute with her arms wrapped around his neck. Had she tried to choke him when he grabbed her but he knocked her out anyways? Did he use that move Owen Wilson had in that Fockers movie?

He then turned around and Consty took a battle stance, ready to fight for her life. The man looked directly into her eyes and she immediately recognized him. Emotionally exhausted, she walked over to the man and sank her face into his massive calf muscle.

"Hi, Mr. Souza," she mumbled. _These kids are way too affectionate_, Daddy thought miserly towards himself.

Daddy awkwardly stooped to pat her head, "Umm, hi, Constance."

**A/N: I decided to gift you all some thrill there, and I know this chapter was super long!**


	6. Letter to Laurelites again

**I'm sorry for this stupid letter chapter, but I gotta do this. This story isn't on hold or hiatus or anything, its just that my updates may become a little more sporadic as I'm in the middle of some craziness. Rest assured that you will definitely get an update within the next few weeks, Remember, I love you guys and keep on supporting my little loves. They need ya!**

**Yours Truly,**

_**ATH**_


	7. Thnxgvn

**A/N: Hiyo! So this is the glorious chapter in which you all shall meet everyone! Yes, friends, everyone. **

**Also, there's a poll on my profile so go vote for your favorite little person! The kid with the most votes gets a surprise from moi. Remember, 'The Holiday Season', next chapter will be Part 2!**

**Chapter Six**

**A Taste of Family:**

**Thnxgvn**

After the catastrophe that was Halloween nobody in their group was allowed outside of their homes. Consty ended up being the worst for the wear. During the lunch period that following Monday, when asked about what had happened with her after being very quiet during their lamentable discussions she infamously murmured agitatedly, "What do you think? I got a whuppin."

But sad Halloween stories aside, it was November and the harvest was upon them. Laurel could barely contain her excitement. Mommy was flying in for Thanksgiving and this time she was staying the whole month for sure!

Mommy always levelled with Laurel about how long she was going to be able to stay, so she knew that, this time, her Mommy was going to be back for real.

Laurel could remember when Mommy first began leaving. It only started a little over a year ago, and she used to sob all night. It was after the first extended leave that Mommy took her to Build-A-Bear -all the while grumbling silliness about stark naked thirty dollar stuffed animals- and she hadn't gone a night without Pinky since.

These thoughts stewed in her mind as she strode towards her infamous table. She wondered bitterly, not for the first time, why she was always the last person to sit down when their classes didn't even have a lunch line order.

"Laurel, Diesel's moving back to Georgia!" Xavier yelled excitedly. Laurel frowned as she tried to sift through her mind and realized that not only did she not know what that word "moving" meant but she didn't know where a Georgia was either.

"No I ain't! I mean, am not," Diesel frowned.

His Momma was forever telling him, "Diesel, ain't the south no more, you gotta watch your grammar." He didn't know what grammar was but she always sent him a withering look when he used 'country contractions'.

Plus, he was sick of being made fun of. The guys behind him repeating everything he said got old unbelievably quick.

"What's moving? Where's Georgia?" Laurel asked. Consty stepped in.

"Moving is when you leave forever." Consty assisted.

Laurel gasped in horror as that statement made everything else irrelevant, "Diesel is leaving forever?!"

"Uh, huh," answered Xavier, nodding his head emphatically then lowering it in sorrow.

"But that-that's not good!" Laurel said, on the verge of tears.

Diesel's eyes widened. They made it sound like he was about to die or something. He waved his arms, his voice raising.

"I'm not gonna die!" He cried vehemently. Laurel's eyes widened.

"But you're leaving forever! You can't die, too!" Laurel began to full out bawl then, drawing the attention of nearby cafeteria monitors.

"Laurel, don't cry!" Diesel moved his hands over her face in an attempt to somehow make her eyes stop leaking.

"B-but you're going to-to-to DIEEE!" She wailed, burrowing her face in her hands. Xavier's face was solemn in mourning and Consty sniffled quietly, shaking her head.

"Ughh! I ain't gonna die and I ain't gonna leave forever! All o' y'all need to be quiet 'cause ain't nu'n is fix'n t'a happen to me!" Diesel rampaged.

His words hung in the air like a fog.

Jaws dropped. Diesel turned a shade of vermillion so deep he was even darker than his already rust red hair. They'd never heard him speak in his native dialect before that exact moment.

"Wha-wha..." Laurel gaped. Xavier's eyes almost bugged out of his head, but what Consty said next really left everyone at a loss for words.

"What's wrong with your face?" the brunette queried, eyebrows furrowed as though she could find the answer written on his forehead.

Everybody looked at each other in befuddlement.

"Doesn't your face turn red sometimes?" Diesel asked. Consty shook her head.

"That's weird." Xavier said bluntly.

"_You're_ weird." Consty snapped back and, with that, a full fledged verbal fight broke out.

Diesel took that opportunity to explain to Laurel that he and his family were visiting his "grandpaps" in Augusta, Georgia for Thanksgiving.

To which Laurel responded, "Aww, ok! Do you like peanut butter?"

Daddy had had a very long day.

Class had been restless as the energy of the room fluctuated in a very strange way the more they neared Thanksgiving. A holiday that he cared very little for.

It seemed to be his relative's excuse to barge in on his home and completely upset the balance of his life. Few of their guests brought food with them (which, according to Mrs. Adria, is common courtesy) and instead caused nothing but problems for everyone else.

The only upside was Mommy's extended stay. Just her name alone had the ability to bring something like a smile to his face. Even though the years had turned him into a, quote-unquote, "big ol' softy" -courtesy of Uncle Simmy- that was still a feat very few could accomplish so effortlessly.

And by "very few" we mean Mommy and Laurel.

But, all else aside, he was on his way to pick up the aforementioned little girl. As he climbed into his favorite car, the BMW, his phone rang.

He honestly wasn't into technology so he left that sort of thing to Mommy. She bought him his smartphone, since he didn't care and she didn't want to be one of those tacky iPhone couples. Whatever the hell that is.

He took one look at the caller ID and rolled his eyes. His thumb hit accept and he slapped the blinking screen to his ear.

"What?" He grumbled into the receiver.

"_Hi, Daddy!" _an exuberant voice responded.

"Simon, what are you calling me for?" Daddy asked, already bored with his brother.

"_I just called to say I'm picking up Laurel and Constance today!"_

Daddy's jaw slammed into the dashboard. "How?"

"_Chloe gave me directions! Edie's here! Say hi, Edie!"_ The high energy man exclaimed. There were slapping noises as a feminine voice exclaimed a soft "No!" in the background. Daddy pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Simon, I can pick up my own-"

"_Sorry, too late. I'm already there! Chill, big man, I've got it!"_

And with that the line went dead and Daddy's heart flatlined.

It was pick up time and the car riders were all in the cafeteria waiting for their respective rides. Usually Laurel and Consty would play with leggos on the floor with the other kids and wait for either of their parents to come for them. Today was Consty's turn to stay at Laurel's house so whoever was picking up Laurel was picking her up too.

Laurel had been waiting for the familiar sound of Daddy's keys clanging together melodiously when a voice pulled her turned head towards the door.

"Woah, where's the Laurel-Monster?" A confused voice belted out over the sea of small, squirming bodies. Her black hair, which was pulled back from her face with a cupcake headband, was comically ostentatious as her head snapped up. She got up, turning on her heels and running as fast her hot pink converses would take her.

"UNCLE SIMMY!" She exclaimed as she bolted across the floor and up into his arms.

"LAUREL-MONSTER!" He exclaimed right back, knocking a knuckle against her forehead.

"Oww, Uncle Simmy! That hurt!" She pouted, put out, as she rubbed the spot.

"No it didn't!" He replied with a grin. Laurel would beg to differ.

"Yeah, it did!" She frowned, crossing her arms and leaning over his bicep. Uncle Simmy laughed.

"Hi, Mr. Simmy!" Consty said happily, both her and Laurel's backpacks slung over her small shoulders. Uncle Simmy shook his head and collected the highly decorated bags. Consty liked Laurel's uncle, he was extremely funny and always brought her and Laurel candy or some other tooth-rotting substance.

"'Sup, Constance." He asked, holding up his fist to knuckle touch with her. Consty managed to bump to her entire fist to two of his fingers.

Uncle Simmy turned around and winked at the lunch ladies manning the roster. They all smiled back shyly, conveniently forgetting that they hadn't confirmed him as an actually approved contact for both of the children. He signed out the two girls and they set off on their way, Laurel still stubbornly slung over one of his arms.

"Laurel, get down!" He said laughingly, shaking her off his torso. With both of his arms free, Uncle Simmy picked both of the girls' car seats, Laurel's purple and green and Consty's pink and black. They kept all of the car seats for the younger children in one area and it certainly wasn't uncommon to approach the strange field and find yours nowhere to be found.

They walked across the green and yellow checkered lobby, past the sandalwood front desk and Choice Academy insignia on the white marble flooring, and through the glass double doors. All of them traded stories and laughs all the way to the car, Uncle Simmy's baby Benz. The solid black car had light beige leather interior and it took a moment to strap everyone's car seats in.

As Uncle Simmy put the final touches on the buckle on Consty's car seat a green-eyed, curly brown haired lady stepped into the view from between Laurel's thick beanie and scarf. She excitedly hugged the lady, who bent down to greet her.

"Hi, Aunty!" She said happily, not having seen the lady in quite a while. A thick french accent punctuated her response.

"Hello, _mon cherie_." She said, a sly smile gracing her face. Laurel giggled.

"Aunty, you talk really funny," Aunty just laughed and then turned to face the little girl just behind her.

"And who is this?"

"Aunty, this is my bestest friend ever, Consty!" Laurel grinned. Consty rolled her eyes.

"Hi, my name isn't Consty its _Constance_." Consty stepped forward, holding her hand out for Aunty to shake.

"Well, hello _Constance_. My name isn't Aunty, its Etoile, but you can call me Ms. Edie," She finished with a bright smile. Consty beamed back winningly.

PINKYPIEPINKYPIEPINKYPIEPINK YPIEPINKYPIEPINKYPIEPINKYPIE PINKYPIE

"RAWR!" Laurel shouted excitedly.

It was the Saturday before Thanksgiving -which was that Thursday- and they were off to LAX to pick up Mommy. As a rule, Consty always showed up to pick up Mommy with Daddy.

After escaping Daddy's watch for the trillionth time, Consty decided to surprise the heck out of Mommy. Hiding behind a grey chair in the terminal waiting area, she lied low as she waited for first-class to exit.

Entering the waiting area, Daddy immediately caught sight of the small girl crouched down behind a padded chair receiving looks from everyone in the immediate vicinity. Daddy raised an eyebrow at her and she -loudly- shushed him with her finger against her mouth.

People from Mommy's flight flooded into the large, crowded area and Mommy showed up with her large mural suitcase. Mommy looked confused for a moment, as she usually never made it thirty seconds out of the terminal before being viciously attacked by a person no taller than a potted plant.

She saw Daddy, which caused her to sigh heavily and a relieved smile to slug its way onto her face. Mommy took a few steps, the inevitable inquiry on her tongue concerning Laurel still fresh as she imagined all sorts of terrible things that her husband would probably have notified her of if they had actually occurred.

A pink bubble jumped out in front of her and emitted a muffled, "Rawr!" in a very boogeyman like style. Mommy stopped in her tracks and blinked at the small person for a moment before alarmingly collapsing into a fit of laughter.

Mommy had been so uptight lately with consulting studios, reviewing film submissions (she was on the Cannes board), and never ending meetings that she had briefly been shocked into a state of petrification at the childish spontaneity of her daughter.

Laurel, whose small hands were still formed into little claws, was frowning while in her crouching stance as she watched Mommy clutch manically at her stomach. This was _so _not the reaction Laurel had anticipated.

Meanwhile, Daddy was standing back, his shoulders shaking with muted laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation. And the people all around were either chuckling or besides themselves cooing at how adorable she was.

After the last few tremors died away and she whipped the remaining tears from her eyes Mommy stooped to pick up a now pouting Laurel. Mommy, who was a very small person, had some difficulty wrapping her arms around the equally small child. She was insulated (because that was what it was at that point) with coats, scarves, gloves, and hats thrown haphazardly all over her body.

The severe coverings were sort of unnecessary as it never got _that _cold in this part of California but Daddy wasn't the type to take chances after being raised in Jersey, where snow storms could come along at any given moment.

Laurel instinctively threw her arms around Mommy's neck but not before pinching the lady's cheeks, already flushed from her laughing fit. Speaking of flushed cheeks...

"Mommy?" Laurel asked.

"Hmm?" Mommy raised an eyebrow. Her luggage was being escorted out by the ever dutiful husband.

"What is it called when faces turn red?" Laurel asked, her head tilting to the side. Mommy frowned.

"Hmm..." Mommy sat back on her heels, "blushing, I guess," Mommy shrugged.

"Consty said she doesn't do that. Why doesn't Consty do that?" Laurel proposed suspiciously. Mommy's eyes widened considerably and Daddy, who was walking ahead of them, seemed to find a hiccup in his own step.

Mommy had no idea how to explain that to Laurel. Daddy just sighed. He knew something like that would come up eventually.

"Laurel, you realize that you and Consty look different from each other, right?" Well, of course they looked different. They weren't sisters or anything.

Laurel looked at her dully, "Yes."

"So, since Consty has darker skin than you and me her blush doesn't show all that easy. Like, she blushes but you can't see it that well. You got me?"

Laurel thought about it. She always found asking Mommy for an explanation easier as she didn't use words that Laurel clearly would not know. She got that Consty was a different color than her and Xavier and Diesel. Actually, her Mommy and Daddy and Eleanor were all that way. She thought about Beyonce. They actually had around the same skin color.

This was all too confusing, she didn't want to think about it right then but she'd ask Consty about it later. Consty would know.

animalcrackersinmysoupanimal crackersinmysoupanimalcracke rsinmysoupanimalcrackersinmy 

It was Thanksgiving morning and Laurel was enjoying her school-less week. She was sitting in front of the television with a ridiculously large cup of hot chocolate and a small plate of pound cake made by Ms. Adria's mom, Ms. Margaret. She was rocking some fleece penguin pajamas and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, as she did every year.

Dad was sitting next to her, numbly watching the parade and doing everything within his power to keep the color from draining from his face at the thought of the awful turn this day could take if people decided they wanted to force themselves upon his too-nice wife+child combo.

Already having been ambushed earlier on by the combined hosting styles of Mrs. Adria and Ms. Etoile who kind-heartedly agreed to assist with her thanksgiving meal planning. Etoile was buzzing around with decorations and the list, Adria was deeply focused on the cooking and heating of food prepared the previous night.

Consty was coming around later, something that deeply hurt Laurel. However, Laurel managed to scrounge up just enough emotion to exclaim brightly at every new float and sing along loudly with the Sesame Street crew.

Daddy was totally spaced out and Mommy could be on any location on planet Earth so nobody had told her to bathe yet and it was almost noon. She got up to go get some milk when she bumped into Etoile.

"Sorry!" She mumbled as she crossed over to the plastic section of the cupboard in the kitchen. Etoile was going to keep moving until she realized that she couldn't remember if she had stumbled across a person or a penguin.

lalalalalalalalalalalalalala lalalalalalalalalalalalalala lalallalalalalalalalalalalal alalal

It was finally evening time and the full guest list was finalized. The menu was strictly southern, with turkey, macaroni and cheese, stuffing, collards, cranberry sauce, green beans, squash, yams, potato salad, broccoli salad, roasted chicken, dinner rolls, cornbread and assorted sparkling beverages. This, of course, was all made possible by Mrs. Adria and Mrs. Margaret (who could not resist sending loads of food up to california) and about three straight days of bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, different kitchen, bathroom, original kitchen, more kitchen and bedroom.

Edie flew nimbly through the house as people from the guest list arrived and a constant stream of food was delivered from the kitchen. Aunty Tori arrived, dressed in a conservative scoop-neck red sweater and black straight leg jeans. Mr. Gerrit, Consty's Daddy, arrived with her and Eleanour.

Everyone was dressed nicely, Mr. Gerrit wearing a smooth black button up and Daddy similarly wearing a black checkered crew neck sweater. Laurel was wearing a hot pink long-sleeve turtleneck and a black sequined jean skirt while Consty chose a ruffled-and-layered red dress and orange stockings.

Eleanour, however, insisted upon red dress with a large skirt. She liked to spin in it until she got very dizzy.

Daddy stood silently, looking on as they all filled in. He, however acutely noticed a certain person's failure to show up on time for anything important. While being around people in large groups still made him slightly nervous this was turning out to not be so bad. But that was before the doorbell rang and all the forces of absolute hell were unleashed upon the dinner party in the form of two individuals.

"RING...RING...RING." That's how the doorbell sounded in Daddy's head. He didn't know why he let Mommy talk him into getting that one, it sounded disturbingly final to just be a doorbell. And yet, when the oak door gave away he started to empathize with the small piece of hardware.

"Daddy, what's up?" Uncle Simmy affectionately queried, meanwhile Daddy began to feel his eyebrows twitch involuntarily.

"Who is this?" Daddy said bluntly.

Laurel was beside herself with enjoyment, the atmosphere was positively festive as both her and Laurel danced dizzy circles around the cozy-smelling halls. So when everybody was finally called up for eating time she was totally ready to eat. Between the two of them, Consty and Laurel had a heated race to the designated eating area.

They were stopped, however, by Aunt Edie before they reached the long glass table. A black fold up table had been taken out and was the designated kids' table, still being put up by Mr. Garrett and Uncle Simmy, who had just gotten there. Daddy was mysteriously missing.

They were the last few seated at the table when they finally sat down. Also at the table were Eleanor in a dark green high chair -who was seriously digging the cranberry sauce- , Daddy -having been politely asked to take one for the team-, and somebody Laurel had never seen in her life.

He was pale with weird squinty eyes like Kengkue but he was older. He seemed nice but Daddy kept looking at him funny. Quickly, Uncle Simmy floated over to the table and introduced him as Luke, Uncle Simmy's friend's sister's missionary charge.

Laurel watched him in mute fascination until Consty pointed out that is was rude to stare, so she began to eat, too.

Eleanor was uncomfortable with the silence of the table and so took it upon herself to break the ice. She looked down at Luke, who was wearing a casual button-up salmon-colored shirt and black pants. His hair was slicked back, dark eyes searching the room restlessly. The pink under his eyes showed his fatigue from whatever situation he was coming from.

Eleanor cleared her throat and began to ask him where he was fun.

"Falursh misk pashh dall?" She curiously asked, emphasizing her statement with her hands.

Luke frowned at the girl, he had never heard English sound quite like that before.

"Silly baby!" Consty said, getting up on her knees on her chair to swipe cranberry sauce off of Eleanor's cheek. The baby turned her face away, insulted. She was not being silly, she was asking a gosh darn question, she hated when people did that.

Laurel took that opportunity to break from her squirming in the black fold up chair and show Luke where she signed her name in chalk under the table on the sly at a 4th of July barbecue. Luke looked at it and his eyebrows rose. He had never seen English look quite like that either.

Daddy dragged a hand down his face and sighed, he couldn't believe that this was really happening right now. This could never, ever happen again.

**A/N: For all of y'all hanging tough with me, thank you so much. I love you tremendously, you really don't even know how much. The struggle has been pretty real lately for me so thanks a lot, and not in a sarcastic way at all.**

**xoxo,**

**ATH**


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